Firstly my condolenses to Tappers Dad and all the other families whose loved ones died in this appalling accident.I felt I had to post on this thread and am probably going tobe slated for it as I am a civvy.I have been intrigued with this thread since its inception and have followed it very closely.Without sounding patronising I believe our armed forces are second to none and do a fantastic job with the resources available. But looking at the overall situation from the outside looking in the RAF seems to have taken the brunt of the cutbacks with redundancies base closures etc etc and the list goes on eventually something else has to give and it seems to me tobe safety.If health and safety is not acted on in the outside world all hell brakes loose but it seems in the armed forces it can be turned a blind eye too and swept under the carpet which seems tobe the case with the posts I have been reading and quite regularly and its about time all our armed forces get the relevant budgets they deserve instead of cutback after cutback. But gentlemen this thread is very informative and a pleasure to read please dont turn it into a slanging match because if you do this you are not helping Tappers Dad and the rest of the families get the true justice they so rightly deserve.